Rescue life in the inner city has been slow lately, and when today's rescue popped in and nobody was able to do it, I decided to drive out to the foothills of the mountains to rescue a microbat who was stuck fast with its whole wing glued to a sticky fly paper glue trap.
The rescue call came in early (around 6am), and since nobody seemed to be available to rescue out that way (people working and people sick), the MOP (Member of Public) had to go to work so took the little batty still stuck to the fly paper, and left it on the gatepost at the end of the driveway.
As soon as I saw that, it became critically urgent to rescue this little one (not that it wasn't urgent before). I actually didn't think the bat would still be there when I got there, but it was a nice day for a drive to the mountains so I went.
When I got there I found the fly paper on the ground and no sign of the batty. I did look for about 15 minutes to make sure he wasn't in the crevices of the fence post or on the ground and had crawled into a gap somewhere.
I actually cringed when I found out the bat was exposed to the big open spaces during daylight, spaces where predators fly and where the little one couldn't feel safe; I didn't even know what species of bat it may be, or if it was a newly flying juvenile, all I knew was that it was stuck on flypaper and was already having a very bad day.
I got a pic from the MOP, and the batty was some sort of Long-Ear (Gould's Long Ear or Lesser Long Ear - I can't tell from the pic), but the bat was long gone - probably some lucky Kookaburra's breakfast.
I'm not asking for donations for this, but as an idea of how much time and money this missing bat cost - 3 tolls each way (about $30AUD), 140 kms of petrol, and nearly 3 hours of my time. It would have been worth it to have saved the little one from a horrible death on the fly paper, and I still consider it was worth that much to even try to rescue him. I knew there was a faint chance when I left home that he was still there.
I thought I'd throw in a bit of a travelogue while I was at it, and at the end I decided to tell you about flying-fox iceblox because it entertains me to buy some for our favourite batty vets and vet nurses (we love Vicky the vet nurse and Adrian).
And to complete my weird day (and your weird video), a random sighting of coconuts, for which you can make up your own mind as to relevance.
There is a spray adhesive remover that one of the micro carers has found, which is very quiet, and has a propellant which doesn't make the spray come out cold. It's far less stressful for the little ones and doesn't require an anaesthetic to slowly dissolve and wipe away the adhesive. The spray is fairly expensive, so if there is anyone who would like to fund buying this spray for micro rescuers to have in their kits or in their rescue locality to be accessed quickly in these rescues, feel free to contact Tolga Bat Hospital as at the bottom of the blurb. This spray is far superior to other products (and has the benefit of not actually dissolving batty wing membrane in the process, which some adhesive removers actually do). I don't know how much the spray is because Vicky the vet nurse (we love Vicky the vet nurse) wouldn't tell me how much it was - it was a gift from their practice. I don't think it's too exorbitant a cost, just not cheap, but if I can buy in the 50ml small spray bottles, I can distribute them far and wide around the state to rescuers who could use this spray at rescue, after hydrating the little ones first and taking measures to reduce their stress. It seems like a good plan to me. Whilst bats stuck on fly paper or in glue traps isn't an everyday rescue, it's certainly not an uncommon rescue scenario.
If anyone is actually interested, just look at this link; there is also a YT vid which shows how fast and easy the spray is to use. You'll note that it requires a vet login to see the price.
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And if you're further interested in donating to making the life of microbat rescuers easier:
Tolga Bat Hospital takes donations for me and any initiatives I might have.
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Mention Megabattie or Meg in the PayPal message box and the money will find its way to me. I'm going to try to fund this to any regular microbat rescuer who
If no message box appears, please email Jenny to tell her that the money is for me.
IMPORTANT: If you pay through the PayPal Giving Fund, can you please email Jenny with the amount donated and the name under which you have donated, OR just forward along the PP receipt.
The Giving Fund doesn’t charge any fees (so the bats get more money) but PP doesn’t itemise out the amount, they just send a total every month, and we don’t know if the money is for Tolga or for Megabattie.
Here’s Jenny’s email.
jenny@tolgabathospital.org
